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Week of October 12, 2015

A little inside baseball on what goes into getting the very best crowd reaction shots on sports broadcasts, specifically college football. What do those crowd shots mean? What feelings do they convey? What are the stories behind those people? Featured are some famous blasts from the past, including my favorite of all time – the Wazzu popcorn fan in the rain. Behold:

I don’t think anything illustrates the feeling of being a sports fan, especially that of a perennial also-ran, as that video of that sad, pathetic man pouring the dregs of his bag of popcorn all over his rain-soaked face, as the drops continue to fall upon him. I can relate. -TOB

A bit lost amidst the stories of USC’s firing of head football coach Steve Sarkisian after he allegedly showed up to work Sunday morning drunk (and possibly was drunk during a recent game), is the fact that legendary coach Steve Spurrier abruptly resigned this week from his post as the Head Ball Coach(™) at the other USC – South Carolina, effective immediately. My b.s. detectors are going off, but as of now there are no reasons for his resignation, other than the fact that he is done. Spurrier is a funny guy – very easy to despite, especially if your team routinely played his team. But from a distance, especially as an adult, I can appreciate the way in which Spurrier didn’t take himself, or his position in the world, too seriously. Here’s an excerpt that pretty well illustrates Spurrier’s persona:

“He was a bully and a pre-Internet troll and he was so adept at issuing undermining one-liners that a Florida sports columnist compiled a book of them. What is my favorite Spurrier noodge of all time? Maybe it’s the time he was informed that a dormitory fire at Auburn had destroyed 20 books, and he replied, “But the real tragedy was that 15 hadn’t been colored yet.” I mean, I have nothing against Auburn, but that’s A-list Don Rickles material right there.

In an era where college coaches are getting increasingly conservative (and I don’t mean politically), Spurrier will be missed. -TOB